East Midlands Book Award

The East Midlands Book Award, an independent, annual award will be first awarded in 2011 for the best book of 2010. £1000 will be given to a writer of fiction (including work aimed at young people), creative non-fiction, or poetry. The aim of the award is to promote writers who live in the East Midlands, to raise the profile of the thriving literary scene in the region, and to reward exceptional work.
Nominations are invited from local and national publishers. A panel of judges will be chosen each year to shortlist submissions and make the final award. A shortlist of up to eight books will be announced in April of each year and promoted through bookshops, libraries and reading groups. An award ceremony will be held each June – in the first year at the Lowdham Book Festival in 2011.
The judges will be announced shortly. Contact Antonia Bell for further information at antonia@writingeastmidlands.co.uk.
COMPETITION RULES
• To be eligible books must have been physically published between January 1 and December 31 of the year preceding the award.
• Nominations must have been received between March 1 and December 1 of the year preceding the prize award.
• Send covering letter and three copies of the book to:EMBA Writing East Midlands 49 Stoney St The Lace Market Nottingham NG1 1LX
• The covering letter needs to simply state East Midlands Book Award, relevant contact details for the agent or publisher, and the address of the writer.
• Judges may call in other eligible works but, otherwise, late submissions will not be considered.
• Books must be submitted by agents or publishers, nominations from individuals will not be considered.
• Self-published books are not eligible.
• Work by writers under sixteen is not eligible for this award.
• Three copies of each nominated book must be submitted.
• To be eligible for the award, the book’s author must be on the electoral register in one of the East Midlands’ counties (Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, and Rutland) during the period of publication.
Non- residents are not eligible.
Notes: The term ‘creative non-fiction’ will be generously interpreted by the judges but is not intended to include guide books, textbooks, anthologies or similar. Edited anthologies would normally be ineligible, save for collections where the majority of the writers and the editor(s) live within the region.
The trustees of the award are David Belbin, Ross Bradshaw, John Lucas and Jane Streeter, each acting in an individual capacity. This independent book award is administered by Writing East Midlands.